Sensex extends losses for the 5th day, closes 17 pts down

The benchmark Sensex on Monday extended losses for the fifth consecutive day as it slipped another 17 points to end at 25,006.98 on selling pressure mainly in consumer durables and IT shares, amid capital outflows.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net sellers of Rs 723.48 crore on last Friday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. The offloading occurred after being buyers in previous six sessions, that had consequently helped stocks scale new highs in the run-up to the Union Budget.

Signs of recovery on the macroeconomic front failed to enthuse investors. Inflation dipped to 5.43% in June as against 6.01$ in May, government data showed on Monday.

On Friday post market hours, data had showed that factory output grew at 19-month high of 4.7% in May.

The BSE Sensex opened higher at 25,093.16 and moved up further to 25,095.76. However, profit-taking in select stocks pushed it immediately to 24,892.00 before settling at 25,006.98 -- a loss of 17.37 points or 0.07% from its last weekend's level of 25,024.35.

IT major Infosys ended lower by 2.97 per cent after gaining on Friday on account of better-than-expected earnings.

Shares of Reliance Industries fell 0.53 per cent to Rs 961.85 after the government slapped an additional penalty of $ 579 million on the company for producing less than targeted natural gas from its KG-D6 block.